Karzai appointments criticised

By Tom Coghlan in Kabul

12:01AM GMT 13 Dec 2005

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan faced criticism yesterday after he appointed a veteran warlord and the governor of the country's largest opium-producing province to sit in the upper house of the Kabul parliament.

The appointments of 34 members, or one third of the Meshrano Jirga, lie in the gift of the president but after Mr Karzai named unelected members at the weekend his nominations were greeted with dismay by human rights groups.

Among those appointed were the former defence minister and powerful mujahideen commander Muhammad Qasim Fahim, who has been accused of maintaining an illegal private army, and Sher Mohammad Akhund, the governor of the largely lawless Helmand province where 4,000 British troops are to deploy next April.

Mr Karzai also appointed Maulawi Arsala Rahmani, a former deputy minister of religious affairs in the Taliban regime.

But Sam Zafiri, of the Human Rights Watch organisation, said: "The Afghan government has tried to accommodate these different groups, but in doing so they trade short-term gains for long-term political stability.

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"They are also losing the confidence of the Afghan people, many of whom regard such appointments as a serious breach of faith."

Shukria Barakzai, a prominent female MP, said: "The president has chosen people to try to effect reconciliation rather than chosen people who are capable of running the country. It has a very negative effect."

Dr Hamidullah Tarzi, a former finance minister, said: "There will be a lot of criticisms from political groups across Afghanistan and from a democratic view this is not really right. But Karzai has little choice but to get the support from these sorts of people."

The appointments clear the way for the first meeting next week of a democratically elected Afghan parliament in more than 30 years.

Meanwhile, three Canadian soldiers and a British journalist were slightly injured yesterday by a roadside bomb.